Lessons in a Tree House
by owluvr
Summary: Victoire learns three important lessons throughout the course of her life from her father, and all of them occur in one place-her tree house! Three-shot. For alohamora's Daddy's Girl Competition. Now complete!
1. What It Means to be a Big Sister

Lessons in a Tree House

_June 18, 2006: What it Means to Be the Oldest_

Six-year old Victoire Weasley pulled the sleeve of her father's old brown jacket, which he always wore.

"Is it done yet?" she demanded.

"Almost," her father assured her, laughing a little while she huffed sat down patiently. He nailed the last nail into place. The tree house was complete.

"Are you done now?" Vic asked, surprised when he unexpectedly stopped working.

"Yes, I am, Vic," he said smiling, "Come on. Let's go inside." They walked inside and sat down: because Bill couldn't stand up in the tree house. It was empty and only had one window. You could see Shell Cottage from the window as well as the waves crashing down on the shore at the bottom of the cliff. Fleur was watching Dominique and Louis play in the garden. He had a sudden thought.

"Vic, do you know what a sister is?" he asked. Vic looked at him as though he was stupid.

"Course I do," she said proudly, "I'm one. Dominique's my little sister."

"Yes, that's right, and Louis is your little brother," he pointed in the direction of two-year old Louis and four-year old Dominique.

"I knew that too," Vic said.

"Vic, do you know what it means to be the oldest?" her father asked.

"To be born first?" she asked hesitantly. Bill laughed.

"Yes, but much more than that!" he said, "You're lucky. I was the oldest of seven kids-imagine that, _seven _but you are only the oldest of three."

"Seven," Victoire gawked, "But that's so many!" Bill nodded.

"But since I was the oldest: that meant that all of the younger kids looked up to me. I had to show them what to do, I had to break up their arguments, and teach them things, and tell them things…" he trailed off.

"All because you were born first?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, all because I was born first," he said wistfully.

"Do I have to do all that stuff?" Vic inquired.

"Yes," Bill said grinning, "You have to set a good example."

"Well then, I don't wanna be the oldest!" Vic cried.

"You haven't got a choice," Bill said, "But you'll get through it, I promise. I did." Bill said, thinking about his seven siblings. Vic pouted.

"Why can't Dom be the oldest? She would do a better job than me!" she cried.

"You'll be a great big sister, you just wait and see," he said. Then he smiled, "Now, you want to go get some ice cream?

A/N-Done for alohomra080's Daddy's Girl Competition. This is going to be a three-shot, so the other two chapters will be up soon. Each chapter is a lesson that Victoire learned throughout her life, in her tree house.


	2. Best Friends are Irreplaceable

Lessons in a Tree House

_September 1, 2008_

_Best friends are irreplaceable._

A nine-year old Victoire Weasley was sitting in the tree house, letting the cool autumn breeze flow through the one window. Her head was rested against the wall and her shoulders were slumped. Anyone who saw her would know instantly that something was wrong.

And something was.

"Vic," her father called, "Vic are you up there?" He was met with silence. In frustration, he climbed up into the tree house to find her sitting there, her blue eyes filled with sadness.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She didn't answer.

"Is this about Teddy?" he asked. Her eyes briefly glanced up and met his for a moment, then returned to staring at the floor.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," he sighed, "Listen Vic-"

"No," she choked out, "I don't want to hear it." Her father sighed again.

"Well, at least I know you haven't gone mute," he said, as a feeble attempt at a joke. However, it managed to get a smile out of Victoire.

"You are so stupid," she said good-naturedly, and he smiled.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" he asked gently.

"Teddy's gone off to Hogwarts!" she cried as if it were obvious.

"I know," he said gently, "He just left this morning."

"But he's my best friend," she started to cry, "And he's going to go to Hogwarts, and make new friends, and then he's not going to need _me _anymore because he's going to have a new best friend and-"

"Stop it," Bill ordered, "Believe or not, you're Teddy's best friend too. And good best friends are hard to come by these days." She giggled.

"Really?" she asked,

"Yes, really," he said, "I bet he writes to you really soon." She smiled. They both sat in silence for a moment, but it wasn't like before. It was a comfortable silence.

"Who's your best friend?" Victoire spoke up after a few minutes.

"Your Maman," he said without hesitation. Victoire wrinkled her nose.

"You ended up _marrying _you're best friend?" she asked shocked, "I'm certainly not going to end up marrying Teddy and he's _my _best friend!" Bill smiled, and was about to correct her otherwise, that Fleur was his best friend because she was his wife, when he heard Fleur shouting from the house.

"Victoire! Bill! Where in ze world 'ave you two gone? Lunch is ready, come in and 'elp set it up," she called from the house. Vic went immediately and Bill followed. He smiled.

Best friends were definitely irreplaceable.

A/N-Two down, one to go! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to lily617 for reviewing! I'm really glad you found it sweet!


	3. Dads Don't Like Little Girls Growing Up

Lessons in a Tree House

_July 7, 2017_

_Fathers are overprotective, and don't like their little girls to grow up and have boyfriends. When said father is Bill Weasley, you're in trouble._

A seventeen year old Victoire Weasley was sitting in the tree house that she had loved when she was little. Her head was leaning against the wall and her shoulders slumped. Her eyes were full of tears, and it looked like it was sapping all her energy to not let them fall.

"Vic?" she heard her father say behind her.

"Leave me alone!" she snarled.

"Vic, I need to talk to you," he said gently. She turned around.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said, and she could not contain the tears any longer. They fell down her face like a river, snaking into one another. Bill seemed unfazed by this though, and went and sat down next to her.

"Victoire Appoline Weasley," he said sternly, "I have something to say and you are going to listen."

"No," she cried, "I'm of age now, and you're not in charge of me and I can do whatever I want!"

"Victoire-"

"Besides, you like Teddy!" she cried, "You've known him since before I was even before, you knew him when his parents were still alive, and I've known him that whole time too-well most of that time-and it's not fair for you to suddenly dislike him when I start to date him!"

"Victoire-" he said again.

"And I'm old enough now to be able to choose my own boyfriends, and I love Teddy and I'm going to date him and I don't care _what _you say because _nothing _is going to change my mind," she finished her rant and waited in the silence.

"Now it's my turn," Bill said, "You're my little girl, Vic, and I love you. I've watched you grow up your whole life to become an amazing girl-woman I should say," he said when she glared at him, "And I'm very overprotective of you and your siblings but it's just because I love you. And you have to bear in mind that I was a teenage boy once, so I actually know how they think. In my mind, Vic, when I look at you, I still see that little girl that didn't want to be a big sister. And I _know _you're not that little girl anymore, but I still want you to be." Victoire fell silent.

"I'm always going to be your little girl," she said, "I'm just going to be your grown-up little girl." She said smiling. He smiled too.

"But," she countered, "I'm going to have boyfriends, and date, and maybe even get married one day and you're just going to have to get over that fact."

"I know," he said slowly, "And that's why I'm saying it's okay for you to date Teddy."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Yes," he said. She was about to climb down when he stopped her, "One more thing Vic."

"What?" she asked confused.

"Teddy's special. Don't break his heart," Bill said grinning and Victoire rolled her eyes.

"I just spent an hour up here crying and you think _I'm _going to break _his _heart?" she teased and began her descent from the tree house. Bill sighed, stood up, and began to climb out of the tree house too.

Victoire was all grown-up now, and he was kind of glad.

It meant no more lessons in a tree house.

A/N-That was extremely fluffy. Gah, I really _hate _writing extreme fluff. It just makes me want to cringe. It just always sounds so fake, you know? I always try to make it sound real when I write it and hopefully I succeeded. Thank you for reading, and wish me good luck in alohamora080's Daddy's Girl Competition!


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